Note from Anastasia: Ypulse is happy to announce that Amy Jussel, an industry writer/producer turned "counter marketer," and founder of the the non-profit organization Shaping Youth, will be contributing a monthly blog post for Ypulse readers. Shaping Youth uses tools and techniques of industry insiders to flip creative content in a healthier direction. Her focus for Ypulse? "People impacting kids favorably...After all, unearthing positive role models these days can be dicey; today's 'it' girl can be tomorrow's raunch report." Amy's first interview is with Danica McKellar. Read on...

From Amy Jussel, founder, Shaping Youth:

Known for her acting in Lifetime's "Inspector Mom," the "West Wing," and her signature character of Winnie Cooper on "The Wonder Years," Danica McKellar's most recent role as author is worthy and inspiring.

Her new book and website, Math Doesn’t Suck, gives girls the inside scoop on her own experiences with math terror and trepidation and flips it on its ear with a surprise ending…Danica graduated summa cum laude with a math degree from UCLA, a published physics theorem, and a "Smart is cool, intelligence is sexy" math mindset that she personifies in living color.

Shaping Youth: Have you ever 'played dumb' to keep from intimidating a man?

Danica McKellar: Honestly? I guess I'd say in high school a bit, maybe my early twenties, it didn't last…neither did the relationships! If you're uncomfortable being yourself and you have to adjust who you are, eventually it's gonna catch up with you and you'll find you really don't have much in common. The people that are worthwhile to connect with appreciate your brains as much as your beauty. Guys will rise to the challenge, they really will. Lots of hot women are smart. Smart is sexy.

SY: How did your recent "guest appearance" go in Habbo's virtual world? Were the kids more interested in you as a celebrity, or did they ask you specific math questions?

DM: The whole "virtual thing" blew my mind. I really want to reach out to that audience, and I know they're communicating in a nascent form, but I was just...well...not sure what I was doing! I mean, you've got a whole room of a hundred people texting you at lightening speed with their little avatars asking you questions…I guess there's an element of "what is" vs. "what you wish it were..."

SY: How so? I mean, what would you do differently, content wise?

DM: Well, I learned I didn't really control the content at all. I couldn't. It doesn't work that way. It was more of a "what’s your favorite color" kind of dialogue, and at one point I turned to my colleague and said, "ok, so ... what should I do here?!" She goes, "Um, ask them if they like pancakes...Tell them to wave if they like pancakes..." and suddenly all these little avatars are waving at me and talking about their favorite foods, springing off in a whole new direction.

I guess I feel like it's an incredible opportunity to reach out to kids, but the content needs to go beyond fast chat thumb texting to get more meaningful. The conversation could be more real, more productive... once it's shaped and formed further.

Newsletter readers: Visit Ypulse for the rest of the interview.

SY: Can you speak to the media/math stereotypes and pre-programming of girls to dislike math? (e.g. casting as brainiac, unattractive math club misfits or social outcast bookworms) I remember watching Disney's "Suite Life" beauty pageant episode blanching at a "math moment" when the "smart girl" cashier is chided for her brains and blurts out in protest, "Well...Orlando Bloom likes smart girls!" She’s met with a sarcastic sneer from her "mean girl" peer who whispers to another friend in "odd girl out" style, "NOT!"

As a mom, I'm thinking, "grrreat job in one sitcom media moment squeezing in the 'looks are everything' mythology to tweens, while simultaneously slamming any acumen for math, AND reinforcing the need to 'dumb down' in order to make yourself more attractive.

DM:: Hmn. Well, stereotypes are "convenient." They're a media shortcut. It's a quick take snapshot that writers often use because they can "say more by doing less." People automatically "get it" when you're dealing with limited time in a script to portray a given character, so it's a fast way to typecast your role and move the story along... It's also a common crutch.

SY: As a writer/producer, I not only SEE that, I guard against it. What can we do as media people to paint a more realistic picture?

DM: Simple things. For instance, if you have a scientist, or a mathematician make them a woman instead of a man...the characterization is subtle, even subliminal...but it all sinks in on some level.

SY: My own 7th grade middle-schooler saw me writing this article, picked up your book with curiosity, flipped through the pages and mumbled, "Whoa this looks hard!" followed by, "Wow, she sure is pretty!" All I could think of was, "Yep, she’s Danica's target market alright." Any recommendations for gently responding to this level of "math anxiety"/appearance-based cue correlation?

DM: I'd start by saying she should read it rather than flip through it. Just like we've been saying, it's not always about what something looks like, it's the content inside...classic example! Also, everyone has different learning styles, (kinetic, auditory, visual, etc.) so I try to vary my math approach by coming at the same topic from different directions. Some girls learn visually (the birthday cake model) some use pattern based logic, (odd/even beading-bracelet configurations) some draw from what's happening in their own preteen worlds to make it relevant (determining the greatest common factor using "crushes" as the GCF commonality point) and some people rely on math memory tricks. (e.g. "multiplying monkeys" using prime factor "trees" with low hanging "fruit"; monkeys are primates; prime numbers are "primitive/less evolved" -- get it? You begin to see she's not dealing with monkey business at all, but using a step-by-step analogy that distills a complex process into a math mneumonic)

SY: What do you say to critics of your "pink think" methodology who feel you may be reinforcing girls' stereotypes in pop culture?

DM: There's nothing inherently wrong with liking pink or being feminine and I'm certainly not saying it's all girls like, or it’s their only value...I'm saying you can't ignore what makes women women! I mean, c'mon, do you like lipgloss? I've never been one to go for that whole "make it all alike, we're all the same" assessment...Girls want to be able to keep being girls! To me, we need to recontextualize the way we view femininity. There's absolutely nothing negative or "dumb" about being female, and if we're genetically inclined to like certain things or value attractiveness in its many forms, so what? If a girl wants to use her math skills to be a CEO of a doll-making company, is that any different than any other CEO? The term feminist in itself has different connotations...You have to be careful with the way you use it, because it gets misinterpreted so often.

SY: You're saying it's a loaded term? Is there a new one or a better one to convey the concept of equality?

DM: Not really, but it IS more about equalism and enabling girls to be who they are without apologizing for liking pink or justifying and explaining the desire to be attractive. We all want that on some level, right? When it comes to math, I think we use whatever works to get the point across that people can best relate to.

Especially with girls, since there are pre-determined judgment calls when it comes to math...many times there's a stereotype that boys "need to understand math" and for girls it's more of a "bonus." Teachers don't necessarily even mean to convey this but it comes across in media, and then reflects in society in terms of girls struggling with the messages of how they look and being more attractive vs. who they are as a person, and what career they might want to pursue.

SY: Your "smart is sexy" motto seems like a media makeover in the making...Do you think we can get kids to apply the same fanfare they devote to celebrities to math? Since kids are "sold" media stereotypes and behavioral cues that work against their minds and bodies every single day, do you think this is a chance to backflip the message using pop culture tactics and debunk toxic media math myths to make a movement out of this?

DM: Well, first, I always tell girls they are in training right now to be the fabulous, bright woman they see themselves as in the future. It's like looking ahead and imagining yourself as the high-powered attorney or the owner of a fashion magazine or whatever you want to grow up to be and then working backwards to where you are now. Every challenge you overcome, every homework problem you think you can't do, but then solve through determination means you're exercising your brain and your beauty, inside and out to become the young woman you aspire to be.

And sure, I absolutely do want math to seem sexier because intelligence is an essential part of that equation. As for celebrities, there are plenty of smart, "hot" women, like Claire Danes who went to Yale, or Natalie Portman from Harvard, but it's more about success through imitation...If we start creating more positive role models, hopefully more will also "appear." I’m hoping the book inspires some of that and gets more people thinking in this direction...movement or not!

SY: Are there any math movie portrayals that inspire?

DM: You mean that aren't sociopaths or crazy geniuses like Russell Crowe played in "A Beautiful Mind"? Hmm...not easy to come by. Matt Damon in "Good Will Hunting" had a positive math role, and Numb3rs inspires mathematical thinking of course, but still, math is often viewed from an "outsider" lens of "genius" level complexity...there aren't many "normal" characterizations. Even though I really like the show Numb3rs as a positive math role for kids' exposure.

SY: I know women mathematicians and engineers are more prevalent than they used to be but the numbers are still quite low (28% and 11% respectively) we’ve been thinking about using your book to create an experiential "girls math club" using some of your "tips and tricks" to make it hands-on and fun. Any advice?

DM: Definitely keep the group similar in skill sets. Like any academic group dynamic, there's bound to be an "alpha dog" others will defer to, so it's important to approach math by keeping the group close in age range and math skills. The last thing you want to do is make them feel any more intimidated by their peers. Since it's unisex, you won’t have the gender issues to deal with.

SY: Can you talk a bit more about that? The "dumbing down for boys" posturing and girls "losing their voice" element that studies show transpires in middle-school?

DM: Well, I went to an all girls school in 7-10th grade, where women were valued for their strength and girls didn't "dumb down" in those vulnerable years. We emerged as strong, independent women with a solid sense of self, so we weren't easily swayed by peer pressure or put downs when we got back into an environment with boys.

I'm really fortunate that my own experience turned out that way...That's part of the reason I wanted to focus on just girls in the book so that it reads like we're just hanging out, I'm your pal, you can really dig these scary fractions, and rid yourself of math anxiety and test-taking stuff. Math Doesn't Suck! It really doesn't!

SY: Any daily mantra or motto to leave us with?

DM: Tough one. Hard to pick. I think I'll go with "smart IS sexy."

SY: Thanks, Danica...I hope it catches on.

Posted by anastasia